Well, it has. Doesn't seem like so long on one hand, yet on the other, a lifetime ago... Many things are different and many are not. So I bet you all have been wondering what I've been doing... The short answer is: whatever I want. If I want to pick up and drive to Lady Taylor's to watch a movie, I do. If I decide the night before at 10:45pm to go to MDRF the next morning, I go. If I want to buy an awesome new computer, well I did :-)  Point is, I am doing what makes me happy. I did read all the well wishes from all of you and I want to say thank you and assure you that I am doing great. I started playing D&D with a group of great friends and I've developed into quite the computer geek of late. In fact, I've been keeping myself so busy with things RPG and computer related I haven't made much time for my sewing. I vow I will get back to it at some point. Never fear, the creations of Lady Selwyn will begin anew. I can't promise I'll finish everything I had originally intended before the end of the MD season, but I can and will promise I will return and things will be bigger and better than ever for my having taken this extended hiatus. I love you all and thanks again!

Lady S

In just 8 more days, that would be next Saturday for those of you without a calendar readily available, I'll be on my way to VARF (for the first time ever) for my first faire fix of the year! And that's not the best part!

Saturday, May 31 is my birthday!

Please, my friends, if you see me wander by, stop me and say hello! You will recognize me, and my set (of 2), by the dresses you have seen here. My sister-in-law, Lady Stephanie, will be in her blue gown, my dearest friend, Lady Taylor, will likely be displaying her olive and maize confection, whilst I will be seen flaunting my lovely green and plaid ensemble. I can hardly wait!

Hope to see you there :)

It was rainy here and I was bored so I made yet another item not already on my list... Me and the list obviously have differences of opinion. I made a pillbox style hat to go with Lady Stephanie's Italianesque gown.

I got the idea and directions from the r/f forum. The directions I followed were spefically from Orphena. The direction below are hers, with alterations I made in italics.

1. Find a plate or bowl of the "right" dimension -  a pill box should almost perch on your head, so go for the "snack" plates, rather than dinner ones.
2. Trace around the circle. Cut 2 of fabric, add 1/2 inch all around for a seam allowance, and one of plastic canvas. Cut 1 of felt, optional - bit it hades the holes in the canvas and gives it a nicer look. (I found plastic canvas circles in a 6" diameter, so I just used that size, and cut the fabric and felt as directed.)
3. Tape or stich felt to the plastic canvas. Sandwich felt canvas layer between the fabric circles and stich around the circle, encasing the felt canvas layer. (I stitched the felt to the canvas, if that matters to anyone...)
4. Measure around the circle for the circumference, and add 2 inches to that. Cut out a strip of canvas as long as that and between 2 and 4 inches wide. Again, cut a layer of felt and a piece of fabric slightly longer and twice as wide, plus seam allowance. (I chose 2" for the width of the band and I used a different fabric for the lining, so I made 2 fabric pieces, 1 in fashion fabric and 1 of lining the right length and 3" wide to allow for a 1/2 inch on each side for seam allowance.)
5. Tape/sew the felt to the canvas, encase in fabric. Bring ends together and slide one end inside the other to make the circle, finish the ends.
6. Push the top of the hat into place from the bottom (hiding the rough edges on the inside of the hat) and handstitch into place.
7. Trim with beads, feathers, trim. Handstitch small loops or ribbon around the inside edge of the hat, slide a bobby pin through the  loop, and secure it to your hair. (I used thin ribbon to make bobby pin loops.)

That was it it was so easy!!! Thanks again to Orphena for the great directions and inspiration!

Ok, so here it is... Here are the pictures of my celtic ensemble. I told you it was complete and that I would have pictures today, it's not my fault you didn't believe me...  ; )
This is the green overdress with the plaid skirt/stomacher set, with the addition of a second coordinating gold skirt/stomacher set. This was actually the very first dress I made, it just took longer to finish due to the trim debacle I previously mentioned... There are some minor changes I would make were I to do it over, mostly the placement of the straps on the bodice. I still may yet tweak them if I can figure out how to do it without ruining the line of the dress... But all in all I am please wit how it turned out and I can't wait to wear it on my brithday when we visit VARF!
with sash and without
with gold set

Here is a closer shot of the front of the dress.

I haven't decided if I like the sash or not, it was made from scraps from the skirt making, the plaid is just so pretty I couldn't throw it away... I liked the idea of the sash, but I'm not so sure with the execution...

This is just a pic of the green on gold girdle belt I made out 2 broken necklaces I picked up on the cheap. I think it looks good with the gold skirts...

The green front lacing overdress of my "celtic ensemble" is now completely trimmed and ready for faire. I had to abandon hope of getting more of the same trim I used around the bottom of the skirts, when it finaly did get replenished at JoAnn's, it was a totaly different color green and absolutly NOT usable. So I was forced to pick something different, but coordinating, which I did and it looks grand... Yeah, this will make a lot more sence once I get some pictures taken and put up here, hopefully tomorrow. My lord husband has sworn he will take pictures for me tomorrow and I plan to hold him to it!

Whilst I was waiting unknowingly for the aforementioned unusable trim to get restocked, I made another skirt to go with the green overdress, so now I have 3 different combinations using the green overdress, huzzah! One plaid, one golden yellow, and the burgady skirt from last season. Mix and match ren wear, my favorite! I also started another emsemble, not on my original list for this season, that is completely made of stash fabrics. My fellow fabricholics will be so proud... Actually, what happened was after I finished Lady Taylor's green dress I went looking for the items needed to start the next item on he list, only to realize I didn't have all the necessary materials to complete any of my projects. Each one was missing a vital item so I had nothing to sew and after a day or so I was just desperate to make something, anything! So I dug through the piles of fabric literally littering the floor of what used to be the computer room and found bodice material and skirt materials that coordinated together and were in sufficient quantity. I already have 1 of the pair of skirts finished except for the hem and guard at the bottom...
This is the bodice fabric (it is wavy and cool, see!)

and this is one of the skirts

Sorry the pics turned out dark, I tried to correct it, but the colors turned bright eye burning orange when I did... So you get the slightly dark ones, but you get the idea...

The underskirt will be the same fabric only because the fabric is a tad on the thin side and I don't want see through skirts (sorry guys, but you would thank me for it really!). The overskirt I am going to put a guard at the bottom of the bodice fabric if there is enough, which there should be unless I foul something up real bad...

I think the bodice fabric began life as a curtain, it came from a box in the basement of my one gramdmother's house, the skirt fabric was a $1/yd walmart bargain fabric (as it was only a dollar, I of course bought 10 yards, completly logical...right). I have dubed this my "stash ensemble" because 'uplanned project' just sounded to unwanted...